7 Ways To Maximize Your Author Conference Experience
Let’s face it: thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was a weird year for conferences and conventions in all industries. The publishing world was no exception. The vast majority of meetings were canceled or converted to an online platform. Face-to-face gatherings were rare after February. As the programming chair for the Novelists, Inc., 2020 conference, I know all too well the challenges of both organizing and attending events—not only in this unprecedented age, but all the time. Will we see a change in 2021? Will conferences return in full...
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8 Helpful Pieces of Advice On Developing A Writing Routine
Right off, let me ask you, is the word routine off putting? Here are two definitions: Noun: a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program. Adjective: performed as part of a regular procedure rather than for a special reason. I admit, those sound intimidating to me. So, what is a better word for me? For you? I like the word habit. You can find a lot of synonyms for routine, but habit sounds less dictated or forced. It feels doable for me. What ever word you choose, “it” will be a good thing to develop until "it" becomes, yep, the...
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6 Myths Holding You Back In Your Writing Career
#1 I have to be traditionally published to be a ‘real’ author I’m amazed that after over ten years of self-publishing, I still hear some authors say this. It depends on what your definition of a “real author” is, but if you want to write well-written stories and sell them on national/international platforms to rabid readers who crave their next book, then you are in luck! You don’t have to wait on an overworked agent who is looking for something particular to catch their eye, ignoring all the other fabulous books that have crossed their...
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The Top 5 Book Brush Blogs in 2020
For Book Brush’s weekly blogs we have made it a priority to not only bring you information on techniques for our web-based author media program, we also wanted to bring you blogs that will help you in all your author-centered needs. These Top 5 Blogs were chosen by our founders, Josh Wiley and Corey Alderin based on the data they received from views by readers, meaning you guys! We hope you’ll check these out 5 top blogs as well as the others we have written. #1 - 10 DISTINCTIVE SWAG IDEAS FOR AUTHORS Written by L.A. Sartor Swag? What’s that?...
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20 Top Book Covers That Grabbed Our Attention In 2020
As an author, I spend quite a bit of time looking at and thinking about book covers. At Book Brush, we spend a lot of time with book covers as well. This year as we browsed through books, these 20 covers caught our eye. They may not be in a genre we often read, but in each case, we found these covers impactful and we paused. We looked more closely at how these covers convey mood, emotion, and the ambience that stopped us from scrolling on, making us want to look deeper into the author’s work, and start that craving for a book break! And isn’t...
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How To Easily Create Your Own Book Marketing Images
Today I’m excited to give you an in-depth look at our flagship tool, the first we created at Book Brush, the incredibly versatile Custom Creator. This tool can be used for ... Creating your advertising memes for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, BookBub, Pinterest Creating your social media banners Add to your Instant Mockups Create Swag Create those incredible 3D book templates from your 2D covers Create business and post cards Create Custom sizes … SO, LET’S DIG IN This first section will give you an idea of what the tool can do for you. The...
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6 Design Tips for DIY Book Covers
Book covers have the power to sell more books. It’s the first thing a reader sees before they even decide to read your blurb. To give you a leg up on grabbing that much-coveted reader attention, I’ve compiled 6 tips to help you on your own design journey! #1: Think Like a Reader When you’re designing your cover you need to put away your author hat and don that of a reader. Covers are meant to convey mood, emotion, and ambience more so than be an exact replica of a scene or characters from your story. We are showing rather than telling, in a...
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Reasons To Use Animations In Book Ads To Capture Interest
It’s well known that images capture the eye and attention faster than words. When you add movement to that image, you’ll often have that reader stay for the entire sequence of the ad because they’re interested in what will happen next. Book Brush, who is all about images, is now giving us the ability to not only add a video to the background, we have the ability to add movement to the video or still ad. This increases our viewer’s attention span. LET’S DIVE INTO THIS NEW TOOL When you create animations, each element that you want to animate...
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The Best 12 Book Review Blogs
Book blogs have been around for so long they have become second nature to authors when promoting their work. But what are the best blogs out there? There are so many websites out there that have long lists of them, but who are the best to go to? Here’s a list of the best 12 book blogs out there to help you promote your work! #1 Book Riot Book Riot is a blog covering book related news reviews, commentary, advice and information along with the latest in book-reading technology. They fair and very inclusive in their choosing’s. They also have a...
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Holiday Book Marketing Made Quick and Simple
The holidays are hectic, your marketing shouldn't be. Book Brush will help simplify this part of your life. Instant Mockups Right off the bat, we’ll start fast and easy using the Holiday Instant Mockups. This is my finished ad. To do this, start in the Instant Mockups Tool. You’ll see there are steps to follow once you’re in the tool. Step 1) Click on the cover you want to useIf you don’t see them, you can upload them in the white box with a plus sign or also to MY BOOKS under the Account dropdown. Step 2) Filter the...
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